Katy Tur decided she was in no mood to take prisoners today, and let Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Wingnuttia) know it.
During an interminable interview on MSNBC earlier, Tur took Jordan to task for protecting Trump's lies in the face of Constitutional duties, and she was not there for filibusters.
Q: Given the reporting out right now with Donald Trump that he wants his Attorney General to protect him and unhappy about the recusal, do you think it's Jeff Sessions' job to protect the president?
A: I think Jeff Sessions shouldn't have recused himself from this issue, but what I want him to do his job.
Q: Do you think it's Jeff Sessions' job to protect the president?
A: I want him to stop the leaks. The leaks evidenced by this piece in the New York Times about four unnamed sources from the FBI. That's what I want to have him stop. I want him to do his job.
Q: Is it his job to protect the president?
A: It's his job to do his job. That's the point in our piece.
Q: I'm asking a question. Do you think it's his job to protect the president? Should be a yes or no question? Answer.
A: I think it's his job to be the Attorney General and give information to an equal branch of government, the United States congress that we've asked for. I think it's interesting Katy that just this week we are now getting confirmation that oh, the Justice Department has had a -- they've seen the light. I think because of all the pressure Chairman Nunes put on and a number of us on the Judiciary Committee, they are going to hand over documents. They are going to make witnesses available. That's a good sign that things are moving in the right direction, but I don't know they would have had this turn around but for the pressure we put on him.
Q: Do you think it's Jeff Sessions' job to protect the president?
A: I think it's Jeff Sessions' job to be the Attorney General of the United States.
Q: I asked you this question multiple times and you've given me the same answer. Simple yes or no answer. Do you think it's Jeff Sessions' job to protect the president? My question to you, you're a congressman. You're a lawmaker. Yes or no. Is it Jeff Sessions' job, will Attorney General's job to protect the President of the United States?
A: No. It's the Attorney General's job to do his constitutional duty and part of that is giving information to the United States Congress when we rightfully have a hearing. We answer fundamental questions for the fundamental questions like your previous guests ask. Did he leak a document to the New York Times? Is that supposed to happen? Why did we just learn in the last few weeks that the Clinton campaign, the DNC asked. Those are questions we want the FBI to answer. Was the dossier the basis for them to spy on Americans associated with the Trump campaign? Those are fundamental questions.
Six times, Katy Tur asked one question. Six times, Jim Jordan did not really answer it, instead relying upon the power of the filibuster to take him through the interrogation intact.
They moved from that to a similarly annoying back-and-forth about the dossier, and whether it sparked the FBI investigation. (It didn't.) Same pattern. She asks, he doesn't answer, and finally she shut him down.
"Senators Warner and Burr have both said that parts of the dossier have been corroborated. That is not Katy Tur saying that. That is Senators Warner and Burr in the Senate on the Intel committee. You can't say come on Katy. Go to your colleagues and say come on to them. They've seen much more than I have."
Finally at the end, there's this precious exchange:
TUR: I love having you on. I just wish we have a conversation where I ask a question and you answer the question and then we can talk about the various things.
JORDAN: By the way, Katy, I was reading part of your book the other night. I saw it. Before I knew I was coming on. I read the election portion of your book. Very interesting.
TUR: You like it?
JORDAN: I'm going to get the whole thing. It is like 30% off at Barnes & Noble.
TUR: I'll send you a copy, Congressman.
Jordan's just jealous because no one will pay him to write a book if he were able to write one instead of doing his trained seal routine.
UPDATE: Jordan made an another appearance on MSNBC later the same afternoon with Chuck Todd on MTP Daily, and didn't fare much better than he did with Tur.
